Terror, Again

Terror struck Israel again today. A Palestinian man from East Jerusalem deliberately plowed a bulldozer into heavy traffic on Jerusalem’s Jaffa Street shortly after 12 noon, slamming into automobiles and pedestrians, crushing cars, overturning one Egged passenger bus and badly damaging another. The Jerusalem Post reported that “the attack … set off a panic in the area and left a large swath of damage in the heart of the capital. Traffic was halted, and hundreds of people fled through the streets in panic as medics treated the wounded. A car was dragged several meters by the bulldozer before being crushed under the vehicle. A baby was pulled out by a passerby before the vehicle was crushed, with the child's mother still inside.” The perpetrator methodically continued this rampage, ultimately murdering 3 people and wounding 66, until police officers and an off-duty soldier shot him to death. This latest terrorist attack came less than four months after another Palestinian man from East Jerusalem walked into the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in West Jerusalem and gunned down eight students in cold blood.

What can one say about these attacks? Hamas, the fascistic group that now rules Gaza and which is devoted to establishing a Greater Palestine cleansed of Jews, was not at a loss for words. While careful to avoid taking credit for today’s rampage -- Hamas is after all in the midst of a shaky truce with Israel – the organization praised it as a “natural reaction” to Israeli occupation. This is, of course, not only bad sociology (see here for an explanation why) but also a convenient evasion of moral responsibility. The occupation is wrong and it should be opposed, but it doesn't follow that all means are legitimate -- or even effective. I'm reminded of Max Weber's discussion of the ethic of ultimate ends in “Politics as a Vocation”: “You may demonstrate to a convinced syndicalist, believing in an ethic of ultimate ends, that his action will result in increasing the opportunities of reaction, in increasing the oppression of his class, and obstructing its ascent – and you will not make the slightest impression upon him.” For his part, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack, but his condemnation didn’t prevent the Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades, which is affiliated with the Fatah movement that he leads, from claiming responsibility. And what about the political activists who promote disinvestment from the Caterpillar company because it sells vehicles to the Israeli army? Will they express similar outrage about today’s use of Caterpillar equipment to murder and terrorize Israelis? Somehow I doubt it.

For me, this attack struck closer than any previous attacks since I arrived in Israel. The Mercaz Harav Yeshiva is distant from my daily life, I’m unlikely to visit Dimona, and I’m too far from southern Israel to be affected by the Palestinian rockets that until very recently have rained down there on a nearly daily basis. But I take buses on Jerusalem’s Jaffa Street regularly, and if the timing of the attack had been a little different I could have been on the Egged bus that was overturned. I should be thankful that I was not there today. Instead, I mostly feel outraged. The Torah teaches us to seek peace and to pursue it, but it takes two to make peace.

(Addendum: See also Bradley Burston's column in Haaretz, which is very good and mostly on target, though I resist the conclusion he reaches at the end. No doubt there is a portion of the Palestinian population who seek vengeance more than statehood, but it's not clear from these attacks how large of a portion and whether it constitutes a "critical mass." See also his excellent follow-up column is here.)